Chapter 574: - Beneath the Prince's Banner, Where the Spearhead Points!

“Woooooo!”

The horns sounded.

Rank after rank of armored Chu soldiers swiftly spread out and formed their lines, killing intent filling the fields.

Fifty li south of the Wei River, Dugu Mu, dressed in full military attire, climbed the walls of Huanggu County.

Huanggu County was only a small county seat. Its walls were low, and the city itself was small. In truth, away from border regions, there simply were not that many places inside a country where enormous fortified cities suitable for stubborn defense were needed.

There had never been much demand for them, so over time there had been little reason to build them.

At this moment, however, one hundred thousand private troops of the Dugu Clan stood throughout the surrounding region. On either side were the second contingents of private soldiers sent by other noble houses, another hundred thousand men altogether.

Great Chu’s noble private armies had already lost one batch outside Zhennan Pass.

These were the second.

There had been one interruption in between: the Qu Clan’s second Azure Luan Army had been routed by Count Pingye.

So, strictly speaking, these nominal “Chu troops” numbering two hundred thousand under Dugu Mu were already the last major foundation the great noble houses of Chu could currently contribute.

Calling them the last did not mean the clans had absolutely nothing left. Of course they did. Even if they claimed to be ruining their households to save the state, they would deliberately leave behind enough to keep living. That much was easy to understand.

But after the first and second contingents, one fact could no longer be denied.

The backbone of the noble private armies had already been committed.

Armies, especially armies of the cold-weapons age, were profoundly affected by generational gaps. Even replacing veterans gradually with recruits caused combat strength to fall for a time. A complete turnover of blood could transform an army altogether.

Look at the Azure Luan Army once led by Qu Tiannan. On the banks of the Wang River, it drove back the First Prince’s landing. When it defended Yupan City, even Prince of Jingnan Tian Wujing had never intended to storm it directly. He preferred to tie down enormous numbers of his own troops besieging it.

This second Azure Luan Army had plainly been far easier to fight.

One night battle.

One furious rush.

And its Central Army had simply collapsed.

The gap between this newly raised Azure Luan Army and the old one was far too great.

Dugu Mu looked at the armor and weapons filling the land around him.

Truthfully, he felt none of the high spirits that belonged to a young commander.

He was the old head of the Dugu Clan. In his youth, he too had been tempered inside the army. Although he had not personally led campaigns in recent years, his experience and foundation remained.

Dugu Nian, one of the great generals now serving under Nian Yao, had been personally trained by Dugu Mu.

That was precisely why Dugu Mu’s mood was so heavy.

Great Chu’s true frontier elites, now under Nian Yao, could only rely on passes and fortifications when facing Yan iron cavalry.

Dugu Mu might command a nominal two hundred thousand men here, but their actual fighting ability varied wildly. Worse, what they were about to face was an elite cavalry force that had been gathering momentum for a long time, personally led by Great Yan’s Southern Marquis.

This battle would be difficult.

Their chances were small.

And yet it was a battle they had no choice but to grit their teeth and fight.

The reason Dugu Mu had chosen Huanggu County, so far from the Wei River, as the place to establish his camps instead of using the river itself as a boundary was simple.

The Wei River was broad, wide, and long, but there were far too many places suitable for crossing it.

The river was simply too gentle.

Establishing camps against the Wei River might look safe, but in truth it would place the entire army on the edge of a cliff.

The Yan could cross elsewhere and circle around. Once the Chu army collapsed, there would not even be room to flee. It would merely become another version of the Savages’ defeat on the banks of the Wang River.

Now their only hope was to use Huanggu County as a temporary anchor around which to organize resistance. Dugu Mu no longer dreamed of defeating the Yan army before him through his own strength. He merely wanted to hold out a little longer and buy more chances for the situation to turn.

“The army looks disciplined.”

The Swordsmith appeared behind Dugu Mu and offered the praise.

“You should know better than anyone that a sword is not better merely because it looks more ornate,” Dugu Mu replied.

The Swordsmith nodded.

“What of the Yan force behind us, the one led by Count Pingye?”

“I already sent that old bastard Zhao Wentong with five thousand cavalry and twenty thousand infantry to keep an eye on it. I told him only to watch, not to attack on his own initiative. The old bastard was delighted to receive the assignment.”

On the eve of battle, pulling twenty thousand infantry away to stabilize the rear was one thing.

But detaching five thousand cavalry was an enormous concession for a Chu army already suffering an absolute cavalry disadvantage.

Yet there was no helping it.

If Dugu Mu did not send an organized cavalry contingent, he feared Zhao Wentong might follow the same road as the Qu Clan’s son.

With five thousand cavalry anchoring the force, that Count Pingye should at least hesitate before recklessly stabbing into Dugu Mu’s rear again.

“Heh. How did this war end up like this?”

Dugu Mu truly felt helpless.

The Chu elites inside and outside Zhennan Pass did not dare come out.

His own army could barely form up and prepare to resist.

And yet behind him, somehow, there was still an active Yan force running wild.

More importantly, the Great Chu Imperial Clan Guards had sent part of their main strength toward Zhennan Pass at the beginning of the war. The troops that remained had begun concentrating on defending the capital region. Faced with the army led by his own brother-in-law, the Regent had chosen to let it roam.

By all reason, the Regent ought to have personally taken the field by now, come to Huanggu County, and thrown the Yan invaders back out of Chu!

So long as Dugu Mu could win one great victory here, Nian Yao at Zhennan Pass would gain far more room to maneuver.

Of course, one could not necessarily say the Regent harbored some “tender feeling” toward his brother-in-law.

Dugu Mu believed it was entirely possible the Regent himself had never expected the Qu Clan’s Azure Luan Army, sent here as reinforcements, to be smashed apart by that Yan force in a single night.

According to reports, Qu Peiluo had even been captured alive, causing many Azure Luan troops to turn their banners.

There was no need to hurry over the Qu Clan’s territory for now.

The Qu Clan had inherited a Pillar of State title for generations. The whole family would not change banners merely because one eldest legitimate son and young lord had defected.

Heh.

Perhaps in the Regent’s eyes, even if Qu Peiluo could not annihilate his brother-in-law, he should at least have been capable of chasing the man into the Great Marsh and making him run in circles, removing him from the main battlefield.

“When a state is about to fall into chaos, monsters are bound to appear,” Dugu Mu sighed.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Our sovereign’s brother-in-law.”

“How so?”

“Everyone says Count Pingye may one day become a second Tian Wujing. But Tian Wujing destroyed his own clan as the pledge of his loyalty. Count Pingye has no such ties holding him at all. The man appears wild and unrestrained in everything he does, yet he understands advance and retreat with terrifying precision. With military merit piled beneath his feet, then one day... who will be able to restrain him?”

“It is still a little early to say such things.”

“Not early. Not early at all.”

Dugu Mu sighed, apparently unwilling to say more.

At that moment, a scouting rider arrived with a report.

The Yan army had already crossed the Wei River.

And it had crossed in organized formations.

That meant Great Yan’s Southern Marquis had paid little attention to Nian Yao inside Zhennan Pass and had not bothered probing first. He had simply chosen to cross the river directly.

Otherwise, there was no possibility the army could have arrived this quickly.

Speed was indeed precious in war, but only when built upon knowing oneself and the enemy.

To move like this was either supreme arrogance or proof that he had a particular objective.

Dugu Mu could not help turning his head and looking behind him.

One man dared make a thousand-li detour into the enemy rear and raise hell.

The other dared drive straight in to rescue him, afraid Dugu Mu might wrap that man up like a dumpling first.

The explanation sounded absurd.

And yet Dugu Mu believed those two men genuinely might do something like that.

Men with ability.

Men with pride.

Their way of doing things had never fit comfortably inside ordinary patterns.

“Can we stop them?” the Swordsmith asked.

“We shall see.” Dugu Mu’s eyes narrowed slightly. “If we refuse a field battle and rely on camps and the city to defend, we should be able to hold for some time. In truth, it still depends on what our sovereign intends. Whether he truly wants every one of us remnants of the old order swept clean, or whether he intends to preserve at least a few seeds and a little vitality for the day he later gathers the situation back into his hands.”

“I think he will preserve some vitality. Otherwise, if everything has to be rebuilt from nothing, where would he find the time?”

“Hard to say. Truly hard to say. The Emperor of Yan is probably genuinely unwell. I do not believe nonsense like Master Zang severing dragon veins, but look at Yan fighting one war after another these past few years. The urgency is real. As for that ruler of Qian, I hear he often wears Daoist robes. He is a registered disciple of Rear Mountain, practices breathing methods, and is skilled at preserving his health. Besides, Qian is rich and populous. It can be handled slowly. But our sovereign... cough, cough...”

Dugu Mu suddenly began coughing violently.

His eyes, however, grew sharper and sharper.

“He refuses to ascend the throne. That is because he is not in a hurry. During the Rebellion of the Princes, he did not seize the chance to suppress the noble houses implicated in it. That was because he was not in a hurry. Today, the nobles fear punishment from Yan and desperately throw themselves into defending the state to save themselves, while he still sits calmly and fishes. That too is because he is not in a hurry. He truly is not in a hurry. Not in the slightest.”

Something began moving behind the Swordsmith’s eyes.

“You have spent a great deal of time beside him. You should understand him more deeply than anyone. Why is he not in a hurry? What gives him the right not to hurry? Does he have... a great deal of time?”

The Swordsmith opened his mouth but said nothing.

“Is it because of that spirit inside his body?”

“I... do not know.”

“Back then, Great Chu’s founding emperor fused the Fire Phoenix bloodline into himself and led his household retainers into the Great Marsh, where he slew the alliance leader of the hundred Shanyue tribes. That is recorded in official history. Our families recorded it too. In more than eight hundred years, it was the only recorded case of fusing a spirit into one’s own body. The founding emperor fought throughout his life and suffered countless wounds, including multiple wounds that should have been fatal, yet he still lived to eighty and died naturally. Our family records say one ancestor personally saw his remains. The man was dead, but the body did not decay. Our ancestor left that sentence for a reason. It means that if the founding emperor had not spent his life campaigning and had not suffered so many injuries that damaged his very foundation, he might have lived much, much longer. The Regent is the second person in eight hundred years, after the founding emperor, capable of fusing a spirit into his own body. Tell me. How long can he live?”

Dugu Mu rested one slightly withered hand upon the battlement.

He shook his head and smiled.

“I am old. Once a man grows old, he can clearly feel his oil running dry and his lamp nearing extinction. That gives him a sense that time will not wait. And yet I have become calm. Truly calm. What of him? He stands beside that chair and is in no hurry to sit. There is ripe fruit hanging in front of him, and he disdains it. In truth, he simply does not want to pick it. Because he can afford to wait. He believes he can live for a very long time. Long enough to tear everything down and build it all again from the beginning!”

As he spoke those final words, Dugu Mu’s eyes, like those of a lone old wolf, fixed firmly upon the Swordsmith.

The Swordsmith closed his eyes.

“Truthfully, even I do not know whether you know how to kill. No one has ever seen you fight. But one thing is beyond doubt. Your judgment and insight are far beyond ordinary men, even beyond an old bastard like me. So in your heart, you should already know, shouldn’t you?”

The Swordsmith did not answer.

“In the past, you first stood behind the First Prince and shouted for him. Then you stood behind the Third Prince and waved his banner. Finally, you stood behind the Fourth Prince. The first two could give you the materials and sword manuals you wanted. They wanted to play, so you humored them. But our sovereign? Why did you ultimately choose to stand behind him?”

“There is no particular reason.”

“No. There is. There must be. Something about him must have moved you and made you decide there could be no one else. I know you. You are the freak of my Dugu Clan. Others do not understand you. I do. In your eyes there is no sovereign, no father, no elder worthy of reverence. Mundane ethics and all the hierarchies of ordinary men are worth less to you than a single lump of charcoal in your forge. Yet what are you doing now? You are genuinely running around for him. Working for him. Carrying out his affairs. Let me say something from the heart. Even if I die in battle here, you will leave when you wish to leave. You would never draw your sword for an old corpse like me. But I feel that if a day ever comes when he is about to die, you will stand in front of him. Whether you truly know how to use a sword or whether you truly know how to kill, you will draw your sword for him.”

The Swordsmith remained silent.

“Give a slave two full meals a day and he will sell you his life. Give a commoner silver and valuables and he will sell you his life. Give a wealthy household a higher threshold and a more prestigious family standing and he will sell you his life. Nothing mysterious about it. You paint a cake and promise him a bite. But nobles... a noble’s life is expensive. How does one sell it? Unless there is no other choice, no noble is willing to sell his own life. And you? Among nobles, your life may be the most expensive of all. What sort of cake did he paint for you that you were willing to believe him?”

Dugu Mu suddenly laughed.

“Ordinary people paint cakes by showing you a rough picture. Whether they can actually bake it is another matter, because who knows what the future will bring. Could it be that you know he will live until that future? And so...”

The Swordsmith shook his head.

“You do not know?”

The Swordsmith remained silent.

“You do not want to say?”

Still silence.

“Fine. Do not say it. That is all right. But there is one thing I must remind you of. Flowers bloom and wither. Men are born, grow old, fall sick, and die. Emperors call themselves Sons of Heaven, yet even they cannot escape that cycle. A Son of Heaven dies too. That is precisely why a Son of Heaven still carries something human about him. If someone truly lives for an age upon age, not immortal perhaps, but longer even than Qi Refiners who specialize in preserving their health, will there still be anything human left in him?”

The Swordsmith turned and looked at Dugu Mu.

Dugu Mu suddenly slapped the battlement and shouted:

“Why was Qu Tiannan’s Azure Luan Army the only one that marched north into Jin back then? Did he not approach Shi Yuantang? Did he not approach Zhao Wentong? Did he not approach this old man? Only Qu Tiannan went. Only he went. The three of us refused. Why? Hehehehe...”

Dugu Mu coughed dryly as he laughed.

“Because joining hands with Savages was shameful. Shameful! Shameful before our ancestors!”

He drew a deep breath and growled:

“But he was a man of the Xiong imperial clan. Even we considered it shameful. Yet to him it did not matter. Why, before Situ Lei died, did he hand the foundation of the Cheng State over to Yan? Was it merely to preserve wealth and honor for one descendant? Because even Situ Lei, that halfway emperor, that so-called founding emperor of Cheng, understood that the boundary between Xia and barbarians must be kept clear. But him? Him? Why does he not care?”

Dugu Mu slowly pulled his hand back and clasped both hands behind him.

His figure seemed to stoop a little more.

“Child, do not regret it. Do not regret it when the Great Chu you eventually see is not the Great Chu you imagined. Hahahahaha.”

...

The conversation ended in silence.

At sunset, another group of scouts returned with the latest movements of the Yan army.

After receiving the report, Dugu Mu froze where he stood.

The Yan army that crossed the river had split into two forces.

One went west.

One went east.

One numbered more than eighty thousand cavalry.

The other more than forty thousand.

Both flew the banners of Jingnan Army garrisons.

Dugu Mu was certain that with his two hundred thousand men spread here, the Yan would have to be collectively blind not to see them.

And yet the Yan had simply ignored his position and gone around.

Bypassing Zhennan Pass could be understood.

Jing City had fallen.

The granaries had burned.

Without grain from the rear, Nian Yao’s army at Zhennan Pass would never dare do anything unless he finally abandoned all restraint, marched outside, formed ranks, and fought the Yan in a field battle.

But bypassing Dugu Mu as well?

What exactly did that mean?

You were putting me behind you too and simply not caring?

I have already prepared myself to die, and you are just going to ignore me?

I spent all this time laying everything out, and you are simply going to pretend I am not here?

Even at Dugu Mu’s age, humiliation and anger finally rose together.

Outrageous.

Absolutely outrageous!

Splitting an army into detached sections, leaving one enemy behind one segment and another behind the next, taking a risk like this...

Tian Wujing, what in Heaven’s name are you trying to do?

Dugu Mu thought aloud:

“Is he hurrying to meet the Count Pingye he personally raised up?”

Then he immediately shook his head.

No.

It could not be.

No matter what, he would never take this kind of risk merely to rescue someone he valued.

Even if that man was the successor he had personally chosen.

Then...

Dugu Mu suddenly felt his heart contract.

Could it be?

...

Of the two Yan armies, Luo Ling commanded the eastern route.

His objective was to bypass the Chu forces around Huanggu County and directly link up with the Yan army operating behind them.

Count Pingye’s force.

Liang Cheng was with that eastern army as well.

But Liang Cheng immediately noticed one thing.

Prince of Jingnan himself was not there.

In Liang Cheng’s mind, what could possibly be more important to Prince of Jingnan than personally going to “save” his own Master?

If there was something, what could it be?

...

Prince of Jingnan’s banner flew with the western army.

The bulk of the force had already bypassed the camps around Huanggu County.

After confirming that the Chu army inside had not followed, messengers beneath the Prince’s Banner galloped toward every formation of the western army, carrying a new military order from Prince of Jingnan.

Every formation received the same command.

Turn south immediately.

Men may rest.

Horses do not.

Where the spearhead points:

Ying Capital!

[End of Chapter 574]